The Peterhead-goldeneye Gas Post-combustion CCS Project

Abstract Full scale demonstration projects are the key to gaining policy acceptance for CCS. They also form the vital first step towards reducing the cost of clean power: only when a project is built can engineers examine it and identify improvements and savings opportunities. A number of projects are currently in development for coal CCS, but carbon capture on gas is also important if the world is to make the depth of cuts in emissions required by the current scientific consensus. Shell and SSE plan to deliver the world's first full scale CCS project on gas in Scotland. Up to 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions could be captured over a 10-year period from flue-gas from a 400MW combined cycle gas turbine at the existing Peterhead Power Station in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and then transported by pipeline and stored, approximately 100 km offshore in the depleted Goldeneye gas reservoir, at a depth of more than 2 km under the floor of the North Sea. This would provide enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of 500,000 homes per year. The project is one of two preferred bidders in the UK Government's CCS Commercialisation Programme and is currently in the midst of a front end engineering and design (FEED) phase. Subject to positive final investment decisions by Shell and the UK Government, and the receipt of all relevant permits and consents, the project is expected to be up and running by the end of the decade.